But it didn't work out that way for Prairie View A&M, which was denied a berth in the NCAA Tournament after losing to Southern 45-44 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament title game Saturday.

Panthers senior guard Jourdan DeMuynck dribbled at top speed after snaring a defensive rebound with five seconds remaining and his team trailing by a point.

With a defender to his right as he neared the goal, the 6-6 guard caught a glimpse of a teammate open in the corner. He chose to make a pass.

Two problems.

The Southern defender got his hands on the pass, causing a turnover. But even had the pass gotten through, there likely wasn't enough time to catch and shoot.

DeMuynck said his decision was forced. A bump by a defender changed everything.

"The last thing I remember is getting contact,'' said DeMuynck, who scored a game-high 15 points.

Just to have a chance to win, Prairie View A&M (15-19), the fourth seed, rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final 1:38.

The top-seeded Jaguars (23-9) turned the ball over twice near the one-minute mark, leading to baskets by Carl Blair (12 points) and Montreal Scott.

With five more seconds on the game clock than the shot clock and down by one, the Panthers chose to play defense rather than foul in the game's final 40 seconds. Prairie View was rewarded by Jameel Grace's off-target 3-pointer that DeMuynck rebounded, leading to the wild finish.

Southern coach Roman Banks said he expected Prairie View to call a timeout at that point.

When the Panthers did otherwise, Banks liked his players' response.

"I really felt pretty confident the way my guys were getting down court,'' Banks said. "We work on that situation every day in practice. Derick (Beltran) didn't stop on the play and ended up getting the basketball.''

Beltran led the Jaguars with 13 points.

Prairie View coach Byron Rimm II said a timeout with four seconds to play and three-quarters of the court away from the basket is no bargain.